Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Chili Mac
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This Gluten-free Chili Mac is a super-easy dinner that the whole family will love! It comes together in one pan, plus it has dairy-free and keto options too!
With just a handful of ingredients, you can have this “better than the box” meal on your table, nourishing you and your family in almost no time at all.
It’s easy to want to resort to boxed mixes and convenience foods when you’re leading a busy life, but it’s not necessary.
Regardless of your time constraints, it IS possible to have wholesome meals on the table without too much fuss.
The key is pre-planning and picking the right recipes that cook quickly in one pan or a crock-pot while you’re busy with other things.
And this One-Pan Gluten-free Chili Mac is one such meal, and it’s guaranteed to please.
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Ingredients
Here’s the simple list of ingredients you need to pull this delectable meal together. For the full measurements, scroll down to the recipe card below.
- coconut oil or alternative healthy fat
- onion (finely diced)
- garlic (minced)
- ground beef (or any other ground meat as desired)
- tomato paste
- canned tomatoes (pureed, diced, or crushed)
- beef broth
- oregano
- chili powder
- gluten-free elbow pasta
- dairy-free cheddar cheese (or favorite cheddar; omit for paleo.
Recipe Notes
- Picky Eater Tip: Puree diced tomatoes with an immersion blender or regular blender first to hide big chunks of tomatoes that many kids don’t like.
- Broth Tips: This Whole Chicken Bone Broth Recipe is a delicious recipe to use for this recipe. This Vegetable Broth Powder is another great option but you’ll need to reduce the salt in the recipe if using this.
- Gluten-free Noodle Options: I really love Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows. Use veggie noodles, spaghetti squash, or these noodles for a low-carb option.) Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta is also quite good.
- Veggie Add-Ins: You can add just about any additional vegetable to this recipe for added nutrition. Bell peppers, carrots, spinach, or cabbage are all great choices.
- Garnish Options: Top this dish with garnishes like avocado slices, pickled jalapeños, hot sauce, fresh lime, parsley, or shredded cabbage.
- Grain-free Option: can be made grain-free using Konjac or another grain-free noodle.
- Gluten-free Pasta vs. Regular Pasta: Gluten-free pasta tends to absorb more water than regular pasta, but I’ve made this recipe with both regular and gluten-free pasta without altering the recipe, and it’s turned out great both ways.
Gluten-free Chili Mac
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 1 onion (finely diced)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 pound ground beef (or any ground meat)
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 14.5 ounces canned tomatoes (pureed or crushed; about 1 can)
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 tablespoon chili powder (or to taste)
- 2 1/2 cups gluten-free elbow pasta (uncooked)
- 1/2 cup dairy-free cheddar cheese (or favorite cheddar; omit for paleo. This DF Cheddar Powder looks like a great option.)
Instructions
- Preheat a 10-12″ skillet with a tight fitting lid over medium heat.
- Add the oil.
- Add the onions and saute until soft, about 3-5 minutes.
- Crumble the ground meat and add in the garlic, stirring to break the meat up.
- When browned, add in tomato paste, canned tomatoes, beef broth, oregano, and chili powder. Stir to combine.
- Mix in the noodles. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cover. Cook until the noodles are al dente, about 7-10 minutes. The noodles will continue to soak up liquid as it sits, so don’t worry if it seems thin at first.
- Stir in cheddar shreds until melted. Serve with preferred garnishes.
Notes
- Broth Tips: This Whole Chicken Bone Broth Recipe is a delicious recipe to use for this recipe. This Vegetable Broth Powder is another great option but you’ll need to reduce the salt in the recipe if using this.
- Gluten-free Noodle Options: I really love Tinkyada Brown Rice Elbows. Use veggie noodles, spaghetti squash, or these noodles for a low-carb option.) Trader Joe’s brown rice pasta is also quite good.
- Veggie Add-Ins: You can add just about any additional vegetable to this recipe for added nutrition. Bell peppers, carrots, spinach, or cabbage are all great choices.
- Garnish Options: Top this dish with garnishes like avocado slices, pickled jalapeños, hot sauce, fresh lime, parsley, or shredded cabbage.
- Grain-free Option: can be made grain-free using Konjac or another grain-free noodle.
- Gluten-free Pasta vs. Regular Pasta: Gluten-free pasta tends to absorb more water than regular pasta, but I’ve made this recipe with both regular and gluten-free pasta without altering the recipe, and it’s turned out great both ways.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
More Quick and Easy Meals
Here are some more easy healthy meals the whole family will love.
Gluten-free Vegan Mac and Cheese
Korean Fried Cauliflower Rice
Egg Roll In a Bowl
This Egg Roll in a Bowl is so simple and full of so many veggies!
Easy Baked Chicken Nuggets
Indian Lentils
(ready in as little as 9 minutes – not low carb)
What is YOUR favorite super quick meal?
Nice, quick weeknight meal. Everyone in my family loved it. Husband is very excited for leftovers tomorrow.
So glad to hear that it was a big hit!
This is the best recipe! I don’t usually have a lot of energy to cook, and this is so easy & healthy. I use violife cheddar shreds and it tastes great. Highly recommend!
Awww thanks, Christina! We love it too! I should try that cheese! I hope to do a DIY cheddar. Would be fun to have for this! Hope you are well.
This is a great meal specially for workers.
Thanks so much!
Honestly loved this recipe ! We made it without the cheese sauce and was very good however I’ve seen many people ask about the DF cheese sauce. Me and my wife highly recommend this one we found while making vegan stuffed peppers:
https://elavegan.com/easy-vegan-cheese-sauce-recipe/
So glad you liked it! Yes, I’m hoping to have a DF cheese sauce here soon but gosh so little time! I have another cheesy sauce done–need to post it – stay tuned and thanks again for the kind words.
Great recipe, very yummy!
Would this work if I threw it in the crockpot on low??
From the little I know about this I think it will work – try it and let me know!
Our Costco has begun selling Banza Chickpea Macaroni and Cheese. We just don’t use the dairy cheese powder (if you can eat dairy, it’s tasty!) and we love it! The pasta holds up really well and tastes great! Highly recommended if you can find it.
Nice! I think I noticed that brand in another setting about 2 weeks ago. One question–I think I checked and it’s not non GMO or organic, correct? My only concern is that even w/ non GMO garbanzos, that they are often sprayed with glyphosate as a ripening or dessicating agent. I guess contacting the company about that would be the best course of action. Have you tried Tinkyada or Trader Joe’s?
It is non-GMO Project certified though not organic. It does have xanthan gum and tapioca for those who may be sensitive. It’s also kosher.
I did see that – I checked out 2 brands at the time, but couldn’t remember which. Unfortunately it might still have glyphosate on it so not great. So upsetting!!!! I have some organic garbanzo pasta but haven’t tried it yet.
Hi! I have never did the gluten free “one pot” pasta recipes. Primarily because gluten free pasta cooking ends up with an not so appetizing water and it made me nervous that cooking it all together would make the broth funny. What gf pasta did you use? Or am I just overthinking it. Thanks!
Hi there. I’m so sorry! What brand did you use? I just checked and for some reason the link in the recipe wasn’t the best one…sorry about that! I put in a link to a really good brand so hopefully that helps! I also love Trader Joe’s Brown Rice pasta which is now mentioned in the post. Hope that helps and that it works out for you!
I would like to follow your blog and can’t find a link for that. Please advise.
Hi Courtney! Thanks so much — really appreciate you wanting to follow me. If you can tell me if you are on mobile or desktop, that would help b/c I want to make sure it’s obvious how to do that. There should be a bar at the top of each post that you can opt in to to get my Easy Healthy Eating Guide – that will do it. There’s also one in the sidebar (on desktop) and below the posts. I can try to get another one in there too – but yes, hope that helps and let me know what type of device you are on so I can make it more obvious – thanks again and hope to see you around. I have a Healthy Living Group on Facebook too if you’d like to join there:
Thanks for your quick reply. I am using a laptop (MacBook Pro). I saw the popups that asked if I wanted your free guide or five tips, etc. I guess that is what you are referring to. I wasn’t looking for a guide or free tips, I simply wanted to follow your blog and was looking for a way to simply sign up to follow. I would recommend you put a box on every landing page that simply says “sign up for my blog.” I look forward to trying your DF and Egg Free recipes. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this message. I just put something to the end in the sidebar optin and I’m going to put some new things in as well….super helpful! I hope to have more recipes really soon! I am getting more help with the blog so I can generate more quicker! Thanks for your interest and encouragement!
The cheese powder you suggested has milk as the first ingredient. That’s not dairy free. As family managing multiple food allergies, I was excited to try one of my husband’s favorites, but so disappointed to see it’s not actually safe for all of us.
Hi there! Thanks for the heads up! Not sure how that happened! You can of course, as the recipe indicates use any kind of DF cheddar (or other type of cheese as you would like) but I have fixed the link and put in another link for another option for you as well.So hope you like it and thanks again!
Yes, it should read non-dairy cheese. Can you recommend a brand that is tasty?
I haven’t tried that many but Follow Your Heart is one we liked. However, I have seen some poor reviews of it as well. I just found this powder—looks really interesting and I like the brand.
We’ve recently discovered the follow your heart brand and the taste is far superior to Daiya. It also melts into casseroles and even pizza. It does have rice flour and xanthan gum for those who are paleo or may be sensitive to those ingredients to know.
Adrienne, the link leads to a cheese powder. It is not dairy free, just gluten free. I just thought I’d clarify that if others need to be dairy free like us.
Thanks for the recipe!
Hello there! I did try that once and we liked it! I just edited that link and added another link to another cheese option as well. Thanks for the heads up. I really have no idea how that happened! I did notice that when you search “dairy free cheddar cheese” or “vegan cheese powder” on Amazon, that comes up – so again, I don’t know who put the link in there or if it changed as could happen (they sometimes have a different item put in for the same link) but it’s fixed now. Thanks and hope you like it!
This was great. I used ground turkey instead of beef and it was flavorful. Also, I haven’t found any dairy cheese that tastes good, so I left that out.
So glad you liked it! We haven’t made this in forever. Time to remedy that! You mean you haven’t found a non-dairy cheese that you like, correct?
Do you cook the noodles before adding them to browned beef mixture or add them in uncooked?
Hi there. I just updated the post to make it more clear. You add them uncooked. Hope you like it!
didn’t read all the details and subs on this one but would nutritional yeast work for paleo? and some zucchini noodles?? Looking forward to many more brilliant recipes and discoveries from Your exceptional brain and heart young lady!!
Hi there! Yes, you can do that and yes zucchini noodles are a great idea. Your encouragement has meant so much. I think you’ll really like this recipe! Please let me know how it goes.
Do you have a recommendation for dairy-free shredded cheddar? The few dairy free cheeses I have tried my family did not like.
I have not – sorry about that! We don’t buy processed df cheeses. I hope to work on a DIY one though!
I buy but shirataki noodles from vitacost and buy there label so much cheaper and since we now love them so. Found that the best way is to rinse longer salt the water you cook them in like you would with real pasta and cooker longer then paskage says, also when you drain them and cook in dry skillet also cook longer then put in soup or dress with your fave sauce delish.Great for carbonara.
Looks yummy! I am working on menu planning so I will have to go check out your tips!
Your link to the warm chicken BLT salad is not working. Would love to have that recipe.
Fixed – thanks!